


The Cycle is Endless

by Dippy (tinydipper)



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Backstory, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-27
Packaged: 2017-12-20 13:38:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinydipper/pseuds/Dippy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A work-in-progress regarding how Carlos wound up in Night Vale, and how exactly Night Vale functions outside of the world's general bounds of knowledge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> eurgh sorry I wanted to post this now just to have it some place where I can look at it I'm still writing it  
> it will begin to make sense soon
> 
> I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE FEEDBACK AS I UPDATE IT thank <3

It was raining. It was raining too much for comfort, but Carlos didn't care. He slumped against a ratty cement wall protecting a vacant lot, covered in graffiti scribbles. He was soaked to the bone. The holes in his mismatched shoes had leaked through, his matted knit hat was a cold wrap for his head. He pulled his sorry excuse of a jacket around him, hoping for a hint of comfort, but found none. His 'please, ANYTHING you have to give, please help.' cardboard sign sopped and slowly disintegrated on the pavement beside him. He glanced at it idly. 

Across the street from the hopeless vagabond stood a row of abandoned apartments. They weren't necessarily apartments as you would imagine. They were old and perfectly designed; with embellishments galore and columns on either side of the large metal doors. Nonetheless, the windows were boarded shut, and more graffiti littered their lower exterior. Carlos picked his favorite of the scribbles; it was a large, red, extremely legible scribble. In fact, it was hardly a scribble. It read, "THE CYCLE IS ENDLESS. DO NOT ENTER IT." He pondered momentarily what it meant. Perhaps it was existentialist. Perhaps it was more scientifically direct. He closed his eyes and pictured the forming of all existence from the same matter, and to the same matter we shall all return; the big bang, the big crunch, and on it goes, endlessly. The cycle is endless. Lost in his thoughts, he huddled down against the cold and drifted into a light, uneasy rest.

A piercing shriek woke him from his disturbed slumber. He jolted up from his slouched position, his frigid muscles protesting. He scanned the road before him. He squinted at the only people he saw on the dismal street. A lady of the night stood in the middle of the road, staggering on her heels, and soon motioned to the gutter and vomited.

Carlos slowly moved his cramped and heavy body into a standing position. He began at a regular pace towards the commotion, but once the cause of the woman's fright came into view, he rushed to be there. He halted, frozen, before the sight. The colour drained from his face. The woman continued to gag into the gutter. 

Water continued to swell into Carlos' destroyed shoes. Red crawled through the puddle that the street had become. It dispersed and danced from the raindrops hitting the surface relentlessly. It danced into Carlos' shoes. Before him lay the mangled body of a man. His limbs were skewed in foreign directions, and half of his face was indiscernible. Carlos could swear he saw one, perfect, blue eye blink. Just once. 


	2. Chapter 2

"What happened?" He asked the woman flatly. She had recovered from her gagging and was sitting on the sidewalk away from her mess. 

She took a breath and said, "He jumped from the window." 

It was clear to Carlos that she didn't want to say anything further. He went over to her and helped her onto her pointed heels. "Come on," he mumbled, "let's get out of the rain." 

He helped her walk down the corner and two blocks around to a small diner that took kindly to their like. It struck him that they should have called the authorities, or did something about the body, but they were both too shocked and too cold to think of anything.

Standing under the cover outside the diner, the couple dried themselves as much as they could. A woman inside saw them and poked her head out the door. "Don't worry about the mess, just come in." She was slight, and small, and her makeup was a bright as her hair. "It's three in the morning; I don't think anyone's gonna be around here any time soon."

At the counter Carlos rummaged in his pocket and produced two dollars worth of change. His companion pushed his hand away and pulled a neat stack of twenty dollar bills from her bra. She half smiled and put one down on the counter. "Get whatever you want," she whispered to him, "and thank you."

Carlos was certain he could have worked a free cup of joe out of the tiny waitress; it wasn't a secret that she was fairly smitten with him, except for all his rags and stench and matted hair, but he wasn't complaining about being able to order some actual food. He turned towards the waitress and said into her doey eyes, "I'll have a cup of coffee, and a plate of pancakes and sausage and bacon and eggs and everything; just pretty much the biggest breakfast plate you have, please." He glanced sheepishly at his sopping companion, silently asking, _are you sure that's ok?_ She smiled and nodded in reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoo a boring chapter I just don't have much time to write right now the next chapter will be more exciting though; I have big things planned.


	3. Chapter 3

As Carlos sipped on his coffee, waiting for his meal to arrive, he began to roll his tongue around the words it would take to ask the lady what she had seen before that man hit the ground.  
"My name is Stacy," she said suddenly, "by the way. That's what it says on my birth certificate, at any rate."  
"What do you call yourself otherwise?" Carlos asked absent-mindedly.  
She released a slight scoff and a wry smile and replied, "My clients know me as Star." She laughed, "Really stupid, but it got some guys going, so I kept it."  
Carlos laughed lightly to keep to social etiquette, the mystery of the man's death still nibbling at his mind. He swallowed another sip of coffee and finally attempted to verbalize his queries.  
"What happened," he asked meekly, "before I found you?"  
Stacy's face fell. It was apparent that she didn't want to discuss it; at least not this soon. She decided to play it off on a broader topic. "I was a teacher. Like the rest of us, once the e-learning system was set in place, I was out of a job. I didn't know how to do anything else. Well, I guess," she attempted a meek gesture at her figure, "except this." She slumped over her coffee and turned to face Carlos. "What about you? What was the cause of your downfall?"  
Carlos raised his eyebrows and sighed. "I was a scientist. Mostly an experimental physicist, but I dabbled in pretty much anything that came my way. Nothing's really come our way for years now. It was a hopeless career. I should have taken the hint when the total of students taking science degrees had decreased below 20%. It was my dream to be a scientist for as long as I can remember. You know how you always say, 'follow your dreams and they will come true?.'" He laughed darkly, "Now within the scientific community, you either have an IQ above 180 or you go home." He mumbled, "Except by that point I didn't have a home to go to."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay another boring chapter enjoy my really out of whack headcanons  
> ~~where is this going??~~  
> ~~~~~nobody knows~~~~~  
> (except me)


End file.
